"Why is there a need for the Jewish Holocaust Museum? Does it exist in order “to play the guilt card”? Are reparations the goal? No, the purpose of the Holocaust Museum is to prevent history from repeating itself. Likewise, our museum, the American Indian Genocide Museum here in Houston, Texas exists for the same reason. Currently we have been protesting the Buffalo Soldiers Museum, also located here in Houston. The Buffalo Soldiers take great pride in dressing up in Cavalry uniforms and parading around as if hunting our people down and forcing them onto reservations was at one time, the patriotic thing to do. Dr. Quintard Taylor (who is black) of the University of Washington has put the whole situation in perspective when he said, “Here you have black men killing red men for the white man”. Has it been forgotten that the Buffalo Soldiers were so recently emancipated from 200 years of slavery by the white man at the time? Also, our museum has uncovered evidence that the earliest account of anyone ever claiming to have coined the phrase, ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ was by a white man. Former Texas Ranger, Ed Carnal wrote, “At Fort Richardson were stationed what we Texans called the ‘buffalo soldiers’—U.S. negro troops”. Ed Carnal died in 1921 at the age of 72. Thanks to Ed Carnal, we can put the bizarre myth to rest that our ancestors ‘honored’ those who hunted them with the name, “Buffalo Soldiers’."

Get the Story:
Steve Melendez: Remember: There Was Genocide in the United States, Too (Indian Country Today 9/18)